


The Ice Queen's Secret

by nerdy_bookworm_1998



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22000855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdy_bookworm_1998/pseuds/nerdy_bookworm_1998
Summary: When Bucky and Y/N are stuck together in a dingy cabin in the middle of a snowstorm secrets are revealed.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Kudos: 23





	The Ice Queen's Secret

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AsgardianUmbraLupus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsgardianUmbraLupus/gifts).



There were many things that Y/N loved about Christmas, specifically making chocolate chocolate-chip cookies then curling up with a large mug of hot cocoa and watching The Nightmare Before Christmas. However, this year it seemed that she would not get to indulge in her annual tradition since she was stuck in middle-of-nowhere, Maine, with the one person who despised her the most, while they waited out a freak snowstorm in a dingy little cabin with no electricity or running water.

Y/N and Bucky had been on a recon mission to gather intel on a black market smuggling ring dealing in "exotic beings", which was just a fancy way of saying they bought and sold Enhanced people to the highest bidders. Everything had gone surprisingly well, they had gotten all the info they needed to bust the bastards, and had managed to free everyone who was captured and reunite them with their loved ones. They had been on their way home when the storm had hit out of nowhere and they had been forced to take shelter in one of Shield's safehouses.

"Cheer up, princess, you should be in your element right now," Bucky's teasing Brooklyn drawl comes from where he is crouched over the cold fireplace, trying to get the carefully placed logs to light up and fill the room with warmth.

"Says the guy who literally has Winter for a name," she bites back as she rifles through her duffle bag to see what supplies they have in terms of food. She comes up with a packet of graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows, a slab chocolate bar, some granola bars, and a large bottle of vodka from the motherland which she carefully lays out next to her bag.

Finally, Bucky gets a fire going, bathing the room in a warm orange glow with warmth slowly seeping back into their bones like sinking into a hot bath after a long day. After carefully dividing the food into two equal piles, she nudges the one closer to Bucky as she reaches for one of the small iron rods that she always takes with her on missions. She carefully spears a marshmallow on the end and holds it above the fire to toast. Behind her, Bucky reaches for the alcohol, unscrews the cap and takes a large swig.

A few hours later and all the food was gone as well as three-quarters of the vodka. "Tell me something," Bucky says after taking another hefty drink and handing the bottle back to her.

"What would you like to know?" she asks, taking the bottle and having a drink as she stares into the dying flames.

"Why are you always such a bitch to me?" he asks, making her choke on her drink.

"Excuse me?" she asks, looking at him incredulously.

"You're always so cold and distant whenever I'm around, you're always arguing with whatever I say, when I enter the room you leave it, I can't even offer you coffee without you looking at me like I'm going to try and poison you!" Bucky exclaims, gesturing wildly.

"I'm the one who is cold and distant?! Says the guy who threatened to throw me out of a jet without a parachute and tried to poison the team against me when I first joined!" Y/N yells back, her volume almost matching that of the storm outside.

"What the hell are you talking about?! I never said anything like that to you!" he roars back.

"The key phrase being 'to me'. I heard you talking to Steve one night during my first week. You said, and I quote, "She has no place here, she's going to get one of us killed with her ineptitude, I'd rather throw her from the quinjet without a parachute than work with her!" That's when I decided that if you wouldn't even try to get to know me before making judgments like that, then why should I?" she swallows back the tears that had started building behind her eyes and takes another hefty gulp of the clear liquid.

"And the worst part of it all is that when I first got there, I was dying to be your friend. I'd heard all these great stories about how brave and wonderful you are and there was nothing I wanted more than for you to trust me and let me be your friend. Then I heard what you really thought and it shattered my heart. So I tried to move on. By the time I was there for three months, I had lost count of the number of times I had heard you talk badly of me to the rest of the team, trying to poison them against me. Every time it broke my heart a little more until I stopped caring and started expecting it..." she trails off quietly while Bucky looked like she had punched him in the gut with Mjolnir.

"Y/N," he starts quietly, "I am so sorry... I had no idea that you were listening. But regardless of that, I should have never said all of those horrible things. I was completely out of line and so, so wrong about you. I promise you, I don't think that anymore. I haven't thought that way for a long time. Ever since that mission in Spain when you saved me from that grenade launcher, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, wanting to make up for the way I treated you in the beginning. Suddenly, all the things that used to annoy the crap out of me about you, were the very things I love about you. Like how you loved every holiday, always making sure to celebrate it by decorating and making themed treats and wearing themed outfits, even if it's just a pair of printed socks and a sweater. Or how you sing and dance while you're making breakfast for everyone. Or how you eat cinnamon sugar on your french toast. Especially how you seemed to know exactly when someone is having a bad day and going out of your way to make them smile," by the end of his speech both of them are in tears as he gently tugs her towards him, holding her on his lap and cradling her face in his hands.

"I know how much I've hurt you in the past, and I know that I can never say sorry enough times or stop trying to make it up to you. But I promise you doll, I will never ever stop trying. Because you are it for me and I am absolutely, irrevocably in love with you. So, how about it, would you like to have dinner with me once we get home? And, if you don't still absolutely hate me by the end of it, will you be my best girl?" he asks softly, vulnerability shining in his eyes.

"I'd love to have dinner with you and be your best girl, Bucky," she smiles tenderly at him, turning her head to kiss his exposed wrist before gently pressing her lips against his, enfolded in the warmth of his arms and the promise of a bright future ahead.


End file.
